Two Halves Make a Whole
by Sakuya Masaki
Summary: Kasumi comes upon a young stranger who proves her/himself to be the daughter of Genma and Nodoka Saotome.
1. Part 1

Two Halves Make a Whole  
a Ranma 1/2 FanFic   
written by   
Heather McNully AKA Sakuya Masaki  
  
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and its characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi. The only character in this story I claim as my own is Suiren.  
Part 1  
It is nighttime at the Tendo dojo. Everyone is safely tucked into bed and sound asleep. Everyone, that is, except for Genma Saotome.   
Mr. Saotome tosses and turns next to his son Ranma. He is dreaming as he sleeps. His dreams take him back to the cursed springs of Junsenkyo.   
"Daddy," there comes the voice of a small child. A young girl is sputtering and splashing, trying to stay afloat in the spring. "Daddy," she calls again and again, gasping for air and struggling to keep her head above water, "Daddy help me!" she stares at him, desperately reaching her hand out to him. Genma doesn't know what to do. A part of him seems to want to reach out to the girl, but he can't seem to move himself any closer to her than he is. He merely stands by and watches as the girl's hand is slowly submerged beneath the surface. "Daddy, why didn't you love me enough to save me?" the voice of the child echoes all around him as the tips of her fingers disappear. The spring bubbles as it seems to devour the girl and is once again peaceful.  
Genma sits straight up in bed, sweat pouring down his face as he tries desperately to catch his breath. He gropes for his glasses and fumbles them onto his face. His eyes dart around the room, making sure it was only a dream. Wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, he stands up.  
"Time to wake up, Ranma!" he calls to his sleeping son, kicking him.  
"Huh? What is it pop?" Ranma groans sleepily.  
"Get up boy. It's time for a training exercise," Genma instructs.  
"Just five more minutes...," Ranma's voice fades as he begins to doze off again.  
"Ranma wake up!" Genma commands as he splashes Ranma with a nearby bucket of cold water.  
"I'm up, I'm up! Jeez! You didn't have to go and do that," Ranma, now a girl, yells. She sits up on her futon and tries to rub as much sleep as possible from her eyes, "What's the matter with you? You look like you saw a ghost or something," she manages through a yawn.  
"Are you going to stand around and talk all day or are you going to fight?" Genma slides open the door that leads to the Tendo's backyard.  
"What's the deal, waking me up at this time of night? I've got school tomorrow, ya know!" Ranma complains, stopping at the open door and stretching as he joins his father outside.  
"Son, I have told you before. Your training is not simply something you do every once in a while. It's a twenty-four-hours-a-day thing. You must be ready to train at any time... and don't you forget it...."  
***  
"Breakfast is ready," Kasumi calls out the back door to Ranma and Mr. Saotome. The two have spent the entire night training.  
They pause in midair over the lake and quickly fall in. Genma, now a panda, bounds out of the water and into the house.  
"You won't get away *that* easy, old man!" Ranma calls out as she leaps from the icy lake.  
"Ranma," Kasumi stops him at the door, handing him a towel and a bowl containing shampoo and soap, "you had better hurry or you'll be late for school."  
"Oh all right....," Ranma sighs in defeat, taking the toiletries from Kasumi.  
"That's a good boy," she smiles.   
***  
Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki have left for school. The Tendo house is rather peaceful and quiet. Soun and Genma are sitting on the back porch engrossed in a game of go while Kasumi is busy in the kitchen.  
"uh... Saotome.... It's your move.....," Soun says trying to get the attention of his friend who has zoned out, "Is something the matter, Saotome? You've been awfully quiet today," he asks.  
Genma takes a minute to return from his daydream state and then replies, "Oh, nothing...," he finally takes his next turn, not really paying any particular attention to where he plays the gam piece, "I was just thinking about a dream I had last night....."  
"Hmmmmm....," Tendo thinks for a moment, "They say that dreams can tell you a lot about yourself and sometimes even tell the future."  
"Well, I'm really not very sure what to make of this one. It was almost as though it was real...," Genma says, pushing his glasses back up his nose, "I was at the accursed springs at Junsenkyo again, but there was a little girl drowning in one of the springs. She kept calling 'daddy' and begging for help, but I didn't know what to do. I can still see her face. It seems so familiar. I don't have any clue why.... but I guess now that I think about it, it's more silly than strange....," Genma forces a laugh.  
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm," Soun nods, "It does sound quite disturbing, my friend... maybe the little girl represents something," he philosophies. "We'll just have to try and figure out what it all means... but for now..." He slams a go piece against the board. "I win!!"   
***  
"o/` Yapapa yapapa... o/` That is such a catchy tune....," Kasumi smiles to herself.  
Kasumi is in the kitchen getting ready to prepare lunch for her father and Mr. Saotome. She reaches for the cupboard handles to gather the ingredients.  
"Oh, my," Kasumi opens the cupboards to see that they are pretty bare, "I need to go to the store."  
"Father, Mr. Saotome," Kasumi peeks out the back door, "I'm going to make a quick run to the store. I'll be back in a little while. Is there anything special that you would like me to pick up while I'm there?" Kasumi asks.   
"No thank you, Kasumi," Soun answers.  
"All right then, goodbye!"  
"Goodbye!" they reply in unison.  
Kasumi gathers her purse and things and walks out the front door.   
She has barely started her journey when she comes upon a small child sitting on the sidewalk crying.  
Feeling a twinge of sympathy for the child, she approaches. "Why are you crying, little one? Are you hurt?"  
The kid looks up at her through tear-stained eyes and shakes its head.   
She sees that it is a little boy about nine or ten years of age with short, red hair cut in a boy style, and some scrapes and bruises. His clothing consists of a blue Chinese mandarin shirt and a pair of shorts with a back pack on his back.   
"I'm lost," the child sobs, "I was trying to find my daddy and my brother, but now I've lost them. I've been looking for them for so long and now I can't find where they went to."  
"Well, I'd be happy to help you find them, little boy," Kasumi offers, "What are their names?"   
The child begins to grow very angry with Kasumi and his tears turn to tears of anger as he shouts at her, "Their names are Genma and Ranma Saotome and I AM NOT a boy!!!"  



	2. Part 2

Two Halves Make a Whole  
Part 2  
  
"Oh...," Kasumi says, a bit startled by the child's angry reply, "You're looking for Genma and Ranma Saotome... little... girl...?"  
"Yes, I am!" the kid pouts, "I've been looking for them for so long and for me to loose them now... after all this time..... and I thought I was so close..... *sniffle*," the child begins to cry again.  
"Please, don't cry," Kasumi says attempting to comfort the kid, "I know Mr. Saotome and Ranma, but...."  
"You do?" the kid interrupts, "Oh, please, miss, could you please tell me where they are?"   
"Well...," Kasumi hesitates.  
"Please?!" the child pleads once again.  
"May I ask... why are you looking for them?" Kasumi asks.  
"I'm Suiren Saotome," the child replies.  
"Suiren.... Saotome....?"  
"Yes, I am the daughter of Genma and Nodoka Saotome...," the kid becomes sad again, "but I've never met my father.... Miss, could you *please* tell me where they are? I must find them! It's extremely important. Please?"  
"Well... you will need a place to stay for the night...," Kasumi thinks for a minute, "I guess you could stay at our dojo if you like...."  
"Will I get to see my father and brother if I do?" she asks excitedly.  
"Well... let's just get you fed and cleaned up, shall we?" Kasumi invites.  
"Okay!" the little girl who looks like a boy trots off after Kasumi as she leads the way to the dojo, "Thank you so much Miss...."  
"Just call me Kasumi," she smiles.  
***  
"Here are the things you will need for your bath," Kasumi hands her a towel and some soap, "If you need my help just call. The bathroom is just up those stairs to the right," Kasumi directs.  
"Thank you so much!" Suiren replies racing up the stairs.  
Kasumi pulls out skillet and sets it on a burner, turning the dial to 'high'. She begins to rummage through the bare cabinets. "Oh dear... How absent-minded of me! I completely forgot about the groceries."  
"I'm finished!" Suiren calls out a couple of minutes later, appearing behind Kasumi when she has finished her bath.   
"Oh, my! That certainly was quick! Well, now we can...," Kasumi turns around and drops the skillet in her hands with a loud clang as it hits the ground. The girl's appearance has changed. She now has dark-brown hair tied back in two pigtails and her facial features are more feminine. "Wh-who...? What...?" Kasumi stares at the child wide-eyed.  
"Judging from your reaction, I'm guessing that the hot water must have changed me back...," Suiren replies checking to see if her pigtails are there, "I didn't even realize I was a boy!"  
"Hot water.... changed you back....?" Kasumi takes a minute to think this over, "Could you possibly mean the Junsenkyo curse?"  
"How do you know about the curse?" Suiren gives her a puzzled look.  
"You see, you're father and brother,... um... well, I've got to run to the market. Would you like to come with me? We could discuss it on the way," Kasumi offers.  
"Okay," Suiren shrugs.   
***  
"We're home!" Ranma calls out as he and Akane enter the Tendo house, returning from school followed closely by Nabiki. "What is that you're cooking, Kasumi?" he asks sniffing the air, "It smells great!"  
"Oh, boy, I'm starving!" Akane says as she runs to the kitchen, "Is dinner ready yet, Ka-su-mi....?" Akane says, surprised to see the little girl with Kasumi in the kitchen.  
"Oh, welcome home, Akane. This is Suiren. She's come to see Ranma and Mr. Saotome," she explains. "Suiren, this is my youngest sister, Akane."  
"Hello, Akane," Suiren turns from the cooking and politely bows to Akane, "your sister told me a lot about you. It's very nice to meet you."  
"Likewise....," Akane says, still more than a little confused.  
"Hey, what are you all doing in here?" Ranma asks entering.  
"Ranma? Oh, wow! It's really you!" Suiren becomes excited at his appearance. "Oh, big brother! How I have missed you!" she squeals, running to him, glomping him.  
"You two really do look like brother and sister," Kasumi exclaims.  
"Big brother...? What are you talking about?! Who is this kid?" Ranma demands, caught completely off guard.  
"My name is Suiren Saotome, daughter of Genma and Nodoka Saotome and I am your sister," she explains proudly. "Oh, Ranma!" she latches onto him again, "After all these years, I finally meet you!"   
"I'm not your brother, kid, so get off of me!" he says prying Suiren's arms from around his waist.  
"Oh, yes you are, and you're also my sister! At least half, anyway.....," Suiren giggles.  
Ranma turns pale.  
"Kasumi told me about your curse, Brother Ranma," she says letting go of Ranma, "In fact, I am a victim of it as well!"  
"Oh, yeah. Then prove it!"  
"Hmph! Fine, have it your way, *sister* Ranma!" Suiren takes a bucket, quickly fills it with cold tap water, and throws it at Ranma, the contents not only hitting him, but it splashes onto Suiren as well.  
"There! Now do you believe me?" she, now a he, asks stubbornly.  
"They even look like brother and sister when they're like that," Kasumi smiles.  
"What is all the commotion in here?" Soun asks as he and Genma appear at the kitchen door.  
Suiren turns around suddenly, "Daddy....?" she says, looking right at Genma, "Daddy... is it... is it really you.....?"  



	3. Part 3

Two Halves Make a Whole  
Part 3  
  
"Oh, daddy, how I've thought about the moment when I finally met you... what I would say, what I would do when this day finally arrived...," the little girl's eyes begin to glisten as she stares at Mr. Saotome.  
Genma and everyone else are speechless.  
"Daddy, I'm your....," Suiren starts.  
"...my son?" Genma finishes her sentence, jumping to conclusions, "Are you saying that you are my son? Oh to have another son and one not cursed! A child that is one-hundred percent male!!" Melodramatic tears of joy stream down his face.  
"I am NOT your son!! I'm your daughter!" she yells in frustration, "My name is Suiren Saotome."  
"Here," Kasumi says pouring hot water over Suiren's head, "Why don't we all discuss this over some dinner. Suiren, you can tell them the story that you told me."  
***  
Everyone is now gathered in the dining area and Kasumi is serving the food.  
Suiren takes a few sips of her tea and begins. "Well, I guess it all started before I was born. Mommy explained to me that Daddy had taken my older brother, Ranma, on a training expedition when he was six, but what Daddy didn't know is that Mommy was pregnant with me when he left. My whole life Mommy told me stories of my father, the great martial artist, and my older brother and how they went on a journey all the way to China to train. She kept so many photo albums full of pictures from before I was born.... That's how I knew you the moment I saw you. Daddy's still just as bald as he was in the pictures and Brother Ranma just looks.... well... taller," Suiren becomes more serious, "Two years ago, when I was eight, I set out on a journey.... to find the father and brother that I never knew."  
"What made you decide to leave your mother like that?" Akane asks.  
"I left because two years ago...," Suiren sighs, "Two years ago... Mommy... died......"  
The entire house falls silent.  
"I-I'm not even sure why.... The doctors wouldn't tell me," Suiren says holding back tears. "All I know is that she got really sick all of a sudden.... and then... she was gone.....  
"You see....," she begins again after a short pause, "I had to find you. I was orphaned and all alone... with no other family..... no aunts or uncles or grandparents... nothing.... nobody..... I had no other choice, but to find out where my brother and father were. I stayed near home for a while... Because of the letters you sent, all one way, no return address, I at least knew you were still alive... I waited for your next letter before I set out... It wasn't even a letter. A postcard from China... I knew it was a long shot, but I had to at least try. I went to as many of the best training spots in China I could find....  
"That's what led me to the cursed springs at Jusenkyo. I had been hiking through the mountains near there for several days, just walking along, minding my own business, when out of nowhere some guy comes falling down on me! Before I could get out of the way he latched onto my backpack and took me down with him to the springs below. The next thing I knew, I was wet.... and I was a boy...   
"That's when I remembered Mommy telling me about an old friend of Daddy's that lived in Nerima so I headed back to Japan. I figured that since I had no where else to go I might as well go there... I thought they might help me find you, but since I couldn't remember their family name and I really didn't know where Nerima was anyway, I was completely lost.... that's when Miss Kasumi found me today. She was the one who told me that you had fallen under the Jusenkyo curse, too, and that Ranma turns into a girl and Daddy turns into a panda."   
"Well, look at it this way, Saotome," Soun pats Genma on the back, "you have a girl that's half boy and a boy that's half girl. Two halves do make a whole! That means you have a full daughter and a full son!"  
"Yeah, sure Daddy...," Nabiki scoffs.  
"Why didn't Nodoka tell me that she was pregnant?" Genma asks Suiren straight out.  
"Would it have made any difference?" she answers with a question, "Would you have stayed if you knew that you were going to have a girl?"  
Genma is not sure what to say to this.  
"Even if you had known about me you wouldn't have cared. You still would've left," Suiren yells through the tears now streaming down her face, "Daddy, why didn't you ever come back? Why didn't you love mommy enough to come back to her before she died?" Suiren is desperate for an answer.  
"You're only a little girl so you wouldn't understand. I took your brother to train with me because I didn't want a motherly influence on him. I made a promise to make Ranma a man among men and look at him now," Genma says pouring water over Ranma's head.  
"You didn't have to do that, ya know!" Ranma snaps, "She didn't need a demonstration!"   
"Until I could find a cure for this curse, I could not return to my wife, Nodoka," Genma says, "You're simply too young to understand."   
"She just wanted to see you again! She missed you both so much. You deserted your family, Daddy.... This....this is all YOUR fault!! It's your fault that I've had to live my life without a father and it's your fault that I fell under such a terrible curse! Part of me wants so much to love you, Daddy..., but the other part.....," Suiren breaks off, her eyes downcast. She clinches her fists, her voice trembling as she talks. "I was so happy to get to see you... I thought that you would be happy and say that you would take care of your little girl from now on... I've run so many scenarios of this day through my head... but the first thing you do is get excited that you have a son...   
"How could you...? How could you do this to me...? How could you do this to Mommy...? How could you just leave us like that...? If you had just come back... if you had just been there for her..... she wouldn't have gotten so sick and died... Daddy... If you had just come back...," Suiren takes off upstairs, sobbing loudly. She runs into a room without even thinking about whose room she's entering, and slams the door behind her.  
Akane runs upstairs after her to try and possibly talk to her with Kasumi close behind.  
"Gee, I guess that blows your nomination for 'Father of the Year'," Nabiki sneers as she rises from her seat and follows her sisters out of the room.  
***  
"Suiren?" Akane calls through the door, knocking.  
"Come on in. After all, it is your room, isn't it?" Suiren replies.  
The girls enter the room where Suiren is sitting on the floor. "Sorry I kinda barged into your room," she apologizes without looking up, "Is this your room, Akane?"  
"Yeah, but don't worry about it," Akane says.  
"Listen, Suiren... Well,... we know what you're going through.... I was about your age when our mother passed away. We all know how you feel and if you ever want to talk to any of us, then you can feel free to come to us anytime.... just consider us your sisters....," Kasumi wraps her arms around Suiren's shoulder, "After all, we are practically family anyway... Your brother Ranma is engaged to my sister Akane."  
"Really, Kasumi? Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Suiren looks up, some joy has returned to the little girl's face, "Are you really going to be my sisters?"  
"Well, if your brother and my sister would fess up and kiss already...," Nabiki scoffs.  
"Nabiki!" Akane snaps, her face a little red, "What business is it of yours?"  
"Oh, come on, Akane," Nabiki rolls her eyes, "you know you like each other. It's just both of you are too stubborn to admit it."  
Akane turns bright red.  
"Akane, it's so obvious!" Nabiki scoffs.  
Akane becomes even redder.  
"Oh, silly Akane," Kasumi giggles.  
"...but I thought people who were engaged kiss all the time......," Suiren says confused.  
"Not these two....," Nabiki says.  
"You see, Suiren, we're not exactly engaged because we want to be. It was something set up by our parents," Akane explains.   
"So Daddy and Mr. Tendo decided who you would marry? They didn't even give you a choice?" Suiren asks.  
"Yeah...," Akane says, "but this isn't the time to worry about my love life," Akane changes the subject. "Suiren will need some clothes."  
"That's right," Kasumi agrees. "Why didn't I think of it sooner? I bet that she'd fit perfectly in some of your old clothes, Akane."  
"I think I've got some in here somewhere," Akane says as she begins to rummage through an old box of clothes in her closet, "Here we are!" Akane exclaims when she has found what she wants and lays it down on the bed. "Do you like this, Suiren?"  
"Yeah! It's really nice of you! Thank you, Akane!" Suiren smiles.  
"This will have to do for now, but maybe we could go shopping for some new clothes tomorrow. Would you like that, Suiren?" Kasumi says.  
"You would do that..... for me?" Suiren asks.  
"Of course!" Kasumi smiles, "You're part of our family now."  
"This is fun! It's like having a little sister!" Akane says.  
"Whether or not she's really our little sister is up to you, Akane," Nabiki grins.  
"Would you shut up about that already?!" Akane yells, throwing a pillow at Nabiki.  
"Well, Suiren, do you think you might want to join us at the dinner table?" Kasumi asks.  
"I guess so," Suiren shrugs, "I'm sorry I got so upset."  
"Truthfully, you have every right to be," Kasumi says. "We'll let you change in here and as soon as you're done then you can come downstairs and join us." Kasumi leads her sisters out of the room.  
Suiren stands there for a minute after they have left, staring at the outfit that has been laid on the bed before her. She thinks about how nice it would be if they were really her sisters and she had a full and big family. "Hmmmm...," Suiren mutters to herself, "if they did get married,... I'd have a family: a daddy, a brother, three sisters... If only mommy were here to see this...," she sighs, "I'll do it then. I'll do it for Mommy.... I'll make them fall in love. I'll make sure nothing comes between my brother and his fiancée.... nothing....."   



End file.
